Lord_Stark

Hello everyone

I am going for a longer ride tomorrow and it's gonna be pretty hot here in Switzerland. The ride will take about 3-4 hours with a climb in it for around 70 minutes.

I really think about what to eat/drink during the ride and read quite a lot in the internet. So I know some theoretic stuff like 60 carbohydrates / 1 hour etc.

But now, what would you really recommend for this kind of ride? When would you consume Isotonic Drinks and when would you eat a Gel with water etc.
I never had problems with my stomach or something when I consumed these things during my sport career. (except headache when I didn't drink enough after a Gel.

Thanks a lot for your advices and sharing your experiences.

chasm54

It's not difficult. Four hours with significant climbing is certainly enough to make it sensible to eat during the ride, and from your comments you already know that about 60g of carbs per hour is sensible. What form those carbs should take is entirely up to you. I like real food rather than gels or energy drinks, so I would typically take flapjacks or similar, and drink water - possibly with some electrolyte tablets in it if it is going to be hot.

How much to drink is largely dependent on the conditions, but it's fine to drink when you're thirsty rather than go with some arbitrary formula.

Lord_Stark

Thanks for your answer.

I have never been a fan of energy gel aswell actually, but I just think it's so easy to carry with you, thats why I think about it.
But I think it's not optimal to drink when you are thirsty because it's to late then already. So when it's very hot (like tomorrow) I will try to drink more regular, even if I am not thirsty.

chasm54

It's not too late. One hydrates very quickly, and mild dehydration for a few minutes has a negligible effect on performance. The fad for drinking more than you need has contributed to a lot of runners (and some cyclists) suffering from hyponatremia. Drinking too much is sometime more dangerous than drinking too little.

gregf83 

There are hundreds of options but you already know the basics of 60g of carbs/hr. Personally if it's a long hard ride I'd put about 50g of drink powder in each bottle with a little salt and take a handful of dates. Somewhere along the way a water stop will be required. If the ride was 5 hrs I'd either buy something when stopped or take some extra food. Alan Lim's Feed Zone Portables has many good ideas for food you can take on a ride. I like the rice cake recipes.

Machka 

If you can stop along the way, you've got some of the best chocolate yoghurts we've ever had there in Switzerland. Those might go down well.